Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Annie Oakley - lead poisoning - Myth of Fact?

No doubt she handled alot of lead in her lifetime...what's the concensus?

Pernicious anemia

There's a special on her on one of the PBS channels. Tonight I think..?

Saw PBS last night

1 minute - it's what I read also - but apparently various sources also say Lead poisoning -

She was in her 60's so it isn't like she died prematurely in her youth, not that the 66 I believe she was, is old

Agree- just wondering if lead was the cause.

I think you need the Doc instead of a gunwriter.


Maybe Doc will chime in. He should know if the 2 are related. From wiki, lead poisoning can cause anemia and gastrointestinal issues whereas pernicious anemia is an anemia with gastrointestinal issues resulting from the inability to absorb vitamin B12.

Hmmm. Makes one wonder.

Well, I'm sometimes a gunwriter, too, but not on the level of some of other leading lights here on the 'Fire...

While anemia is sometimes associated with acute and/or chronic lead poisoning, it is not at all like pernicious anemia. A simple microscopic analysis of a blood smear would suffice to differentiate between them, and such technology was certainly available to Ms. Oakley's doctors at the time of her terminal illness in 1926.

The red blood cells of a person suffering from lead poisoning look much like the RBC's of a person with iron deficiency: they are smaller than normal (microcytic) and have a relative lack of pigment (hemoglobin). The RBC's of pernicious anemia are enlarged and heavily pigmented.

It's really not possible that the two could have been confused in this case, I believe.

I don't know but she was one heck of a shooter and quite a looker at the same time.

Thanks Doc

Thanks for the input guys, looks like the first presumed cause was lead - but based on assumptions due to her 'working environment' -

WTH - yes, she was not bad looking in her earlier years no doubt.

I think that she also tought Golf in Pine Hurst in the early 20s
http://daniel-harmon.suite101.com/pinehurst-nc-the-shooting-legacy-of-a-golfing-destination-a238658

I saw the documentary on her which is part of the "American Experience" series running on PBS now. It was excellent. She cared a lot about her image and was well photographed over her lifetime.

Lead poisoning? Did she lick her brushes?